Avanade resumes its operations in the country
Valor Econômico 09/10/10
Eight years after ending its activities in Brazil, Avanade, Accenture joint venture with Microsoft, is back in the country. The company, a systems integrator that works exclusively with Microsoft products, resumes its operations in the country with 100 employees, all come from Accenture. In 12 months, the goal is to reach 250 professionals, says Jun Endo, the executive who is responsible for Avanade in Brazil. The investment in the initiative was not disclosed. The company will focus on projects in the areas of cloud computing, collaboration and unified communications. According to Roger Ingold, chairman of Accenture, potential customers are large companies in the areas of finance, consumer and retail, public sector, energy and mining. Worldwide, Avanade brings together 10 thousand professionals and has revenues of approximately US$ 1 billion.The company was created in 2000 with an investment of US$ 1 billion of Accenture and Microsoft. At the time, the capital of the company was divided into 51% of Accenture and 49% of Microsoft. As time goes by, the owner of Windows has been reducing its share, reaching currently a rate estimated in 20%. Also in 2000 Avanade began operations in Brazil. With announced investment of US$ 8 million, the company had expected revenue of US$ 5 million in 2001. A year later, however, the operation was terminated in order to cutting costs. The 50 professionals and the contracts won during the period were absorbed by Accenture.
Ingold said he believes the country's situation today is very different in terms of economic and stage of technology adoption, which gives more assurance that the initiative can be successful. Michel Levy, president of Microsoft, Avanade's arrival will not affect the business of other companies that develop projects with the company systems. "I think that [Avanade] come to complement. The market is quite large and complex", he says. According to Levy, Microsoft has 18 thousand partners in the country, including large and small companies.